The Lives of Fictional Artists: Constructed Identities and realities through Transmedia Texts

343 Pages·2017·13.98 MB·English

A Transfictive Tale

Life of the Artist as a Self-Brand

PhD Thesis 2016

Sara Sylvester
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A Transfictive Tale: Life of the Artist as a Self-brand

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Abstract
The body serves as a critical site of identity performance particularly when considering
the implications of technology on construction of the self. This thesis investigates the
growing interest in the development of transfictive artists as art practice and how through
the use of multimedia platforms it is possible to create and establish a fictional identity
through transmedia storytelling. Each of the fictional artists selected for this research,
namely Susan Fielder, Donelle Woolford, Cherry Lazar, Ona Artist and Seren Sanclêr,
function to draw the audience into exploring issues of identity, performance, in particular,
the artist persona as exemplifying selfebrity.
This original contribution to knowledge explores the ideas, concerns and ways of creating
a transfictive heteronymic persona in relation to gender politics, the ways in which media
convergence is utilised to develop identity, performance and the importance of self-
branding. The case studies are discussed in relation to the above issues, demonstrating
where appropriate the influence that digital media has had on contemporary art by
offering new challenges and opportunities to explore issues of identity construction.
By taking an autoethnography approach to explore identity performance, the research
incorporates visual autoethnography to illuminate directly the construction process of
crafting a fictive artist, Seren Sanclêr, as a site for the development of new knowledge
about transfictive storytelling as a process to develop identity. What this particular thesis
intends to examine is why artists are creating fictive artists and how this specific art
practice reflects and informs the culture from which it emerges.

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Keywords

Alter Ego, Fictive Art, Gender, Hypereality, Identity, Performance, Digital, Technology,
Photography, Selfies, Self-Branding, Social Media, Superfictions, Transmedia, Parafiction,
Transmediated Self, Visual Art, Femininity-as-image, Feminist art, Post-feminism, Digi
Feminism, Selfebrity, Micro- Celebrity, Transfictive Heteronym

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